Congress’ move to sign off on the public-safety D-Block frequency allocation backs up key conclusions from a recently published report from IMS Research that predicted more than three million public-safety users will be on private LTE networks by 2021.

The decision by Congress is expected to pave the way for private LTE networks to be deployed by public safety agencies across the country.

Democratic Senators, including Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), over the last few days announced that public safety organizations in the United States will not only get the much awaited allocation of D-Block in the 700 Mhz band, but will also get $7 billion in funding to support the build out of these private LTE networks.

According to IMS Research, this developments will not only have a dramatic impact on the U.S. market, but the announcement will also push the rest of the world into action as the debate around the future of broadband LMR solution continues. IMS Research stated that this will be seen as good news to LMR users as a recent survey conducted in North America and Europe indicated that nearly two-thirds of public safety agencies preferred an LTE solution for their future data needs.

“D-Block allocation and funding will now finally allow for this,” IMS Research stated.

“This is good news for the industry just in time for the forthcoming IWCE show,” said Thomas Lynch, mobile radio market analyst at IMS Research. “We expect some significant announcements during the show and look forward to seeing the emergence of LTE as the preferred mobile wireless technology for public safety agencies.”

IMS Research also predicted that the announcement will now further the case for LTE over other solutions like WiMAX and HSPA